CRC214 | Contemporary Transgender and Non-Binary Discourse

This course moves away from the conventional approaches to trans-inclusion, as special appearances, in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies curricula. Rather, it opens up discourse on trans and non-binary subjectivities as a comprehensive field of study, instead of dealing with them as a narrow specialisation focusing on a rarified population. It encompasses global contexts, intersectional identities, and their interaction with contemporary social movements. The course, therefore, concerns itself with asking: What does the word ‘gender’ mean, and in its multiple meanings, how does it open up space to imagine new possibilities of becoming? How do ‘trans-gender’ approaches underscore the constraints imparted by neoliberal politics of inclusion that flounder in dealing with gender binarism? How does cis-normativity impact differential access to resources, claims for social equity, and recognition of the marginalised?

Relevance: Conventional discourses on gender, predominantly structured around cis-normativity, reinforce the gender binary as an Institutionalised category. Thus, introducing the emerging discourses on gender-expansiveness is critical for interrogating and suggesting mechanisms for challenging binary-normative knowledge production. By engaging with contemporary debates and frameworks, law and public policy students can better analyse, design, and advocate for inclusive laws and policies that uphold human rights and social justice.

Course Modules: This course is divided into four themes: Identity, Solidarity and Representation, Governmentality, and Inclusion, each catering to the specific area of transgender and binary discourses in both global and India-specific contexts. The rationale of the course is to acquaint students with discourses on transgender identity, solidarity and representation, governmentality and inclusion. This will enable them to critically appraise the social realities and everydayness of transgender and nonbinary identities with a sensitised approach. The course is designed to instigate students to unlearn certain commonplace assumptions and cultural stereotypes associated with the notions of sex, gender and trans- normativity itself. At the home stretch, this course will take these four themes back to our first question on what trans means? and how does it open up space to imagine new possibilities of becoming?

The first module starts by conceptualising Identity formulations of trans and non-binary subjectivities by  assessing practices and particularities over time. This module will track the emergence of transgender studies as an area of inquiry with its own space, asking what is “transgender”? how do we trace it as a critical political movement, an identity category and an “umbrella term”? and how do we teach and learn about transgender studies? Since transgender and nonbinary are the most commonly used terms today to speak about gender nonconforming bodies and practices, what are the “roots” of that knowledge? How have gender diverse bodies been understood and treated historically and medically? In this module, we will also be looking at how gender nonconformity and gender variance are understood in a non-western context followed by critical reading of feminist and queer theories at the intersection of transgender studies.

The second module on Solidarity and Representation will seek answers on how transgender solidarities are formed amidst their diversities. How do the transgender and non-binary communities represent themselves in Public and private spaces? Since the socio-cultural rubrics of trans and nonbinary identities are also rooted in the dispositions of caste, class, nationality, religion and lingual categories, we will seek to find who represents trans in the postmodern neoliberal era and what are the risks of intercommunity marginalisation and identity-based gatekeeping?

The third module on Trans and State will expound on Foucault’s concept of Governmentality, looking at the administrative ways in which gender-nonconforming bodies are regulated: via identity documents, surveillance in bathrooms, transit security and so on. Here we will ask what transgender rights are? Why are they important, and how do biopolitical discourses play out in favour of some bodies at the expense of others? The module will additionally interrogate how gender diverse bodies encounter national borders, identity documents, and migration.

The fourth module on Inclusion will discuss how transgender identities have been re-signifying their embodiment through writing about themselves. We will question what categories and labels are generating new knowledge about gender, gender identity and transness? We will conclude the course by reading some influential stories of struggle penned by transgender and nonbinary people coming from diverse ages, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.

Pedagogical method: The course will adopt a critical pedagogy for broadening intellectual imagination and unlearning normative social structures through self-reflection. Each week, we will meet over two two- hour lecture sessions. The readings allotted in the syllabus for each week will be spread over the sessions.

Each lecture session will involve an expansive discussion on the week’s themes and readings.